The Red Facade
by AquaStarlight
Summary: In a world where girls are supposed to stay at home while boys leave on their pokemon journeys, Leaf Green refuses to sit at home and learn how to be a "perfect wife" while she waits for the boy she's supposed to marry to return, and instead decides to make her dream a reality by disguising herself as a boy and embarking on her very own pokemon journey. Conflictingshipping.


**Summary:**** In a world where girls are supposed to stay at home while boys leave on their pokemon journeys, Leaf Green refuses to sit at home and learn how to be a "perfect wife" while she waits for the boy she's supposed to marry to return, and instead decides to make her dream a reality by disguising herself as a boy and embarking on her very own pokemon journey. Conflictingshipping.**

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_Chapter 1_

The small waves crashed against the shore, flowing across the pure white sand as the morning light filtered down on the secluded beach. Two figures sat side by side near the waterline, so close together that their shoulders touched.

With a short cliff leading up to a flat, grassy plain behind them and the sea in front of them, the two sat in silence, merely enjoying the scenic view as the sun rose above the water. It was only the two of them; a boy and a girl.

After a minute or so the girl sighed, stretching her legs out across the sand and curling her toes. "Only a few more days until you leave, huh?" she mused in a soft voice as she leaned back on her hands, pressing them into the damp sand.

Without looking at her the boy allowed for a small smirk to curl his lips, excitement dancing in the depths of his blue eyes. "Yep," he replied in gentle tone that had just a smudge of arrogance in it. "Only a few more days until Gramps gives me a starter pokemon and I leave on my journey." He pulled his gaze away from the water swirling by their feet to look over at the girl, a smug expression on his face. "I'll become the Champion – and the best one at that."

The girl just grinned lazily at him; some of her rich, brown hair falling across her face. "Well I'd just simply _love_ to watch you fail at the first gym and come scampering back to Pallet Town like a growlithe with its tail between its legs," she teased.

The boy simply rolled his eyes. "As if that would ever happen, Leaf," he scoffed, playfully shoving her over. "I'll wipe out the entire League – gym leaders and all – just you watch!"

Leaf laughed a little as she sat back up, combing her dainty fingers through her long brown hair to rid the sand from it. "Of course you will, Blue." She smiled at the boy with spiky brown hair, her green eyes bright. However, the smile soon faded and her eyes dulled. "I wish I could go on a pokemon journey, too…" she murmured, almost as if to herself.

Blue frowned at her sudden dejection, reaching out to place his hand the girl's shoulder. "Hey," he said when she looked over at him. "You'll have lots of fun while I'm gone though, learning how to sew and cook and stuff…" Leaf simply made a sound similar to a snort. "Besides," Blue continued with a wink, "when I get back I'll be greeted with my perfect wife-to-be, right?"

"Right," Leaf replied, though nowhere near as enthusiastically. Internally, she sighed, wishing that the day had never come when Blue turned fifteen and the day soon after that when she did, too. She had finally received the news she had been expecting for a long time, though that didn't mean she was any happier about it – nor was she any less shocked.

. . .

_"Leaf, dear," her mom began uncertainly. "I…well, I've been talking with Samuel – Blue's grandfather, as you know – a lot lately, and we…ah, well, arranged for you and Blue to marry."_

_ Leaf dropped her spoon in shock and it clattered to the floor as she stared at her mother, her abandoned cereal sitting in front of her. "You _what_?"_

_ "You're marrying Blue," her mom replied with more conviction, having already expected such a reaction from her daughter. "It's already been decided. Samuel told me he'll be leaving on his pokemon journey soon, and while he's gone you'll need to be preparing for married life."_

_ "But I…" Leaf's mother gave her a stern look, and the girl slowly closed her mouth, hesitating before bending over to pick up the spoon she dropped on the ground. Truth be told she had been expecting this news for a long time, though it was hard to grasp it in her mind that it was actually official now._

_ She was betrothed to Blue._

_Leaf had known Blue since she was little, and despite their initial dislike of each other, they grew to be close friends over the years. When she got older and began to learn more about marriage and the likes she had a feeling that Blue was the one she would be arranged to marry. (Then again, since he was the only boy in town – Pallet Town was pathetically small – it was pretty obvious.)_

_Since a young age Leaf had known what was expected of boys and girls in her society. After boys turned fifteen they were encouraged to leave home on pokemon journeys or to pursue whatever career they wanted, whereas girls of the same age were expected to stay at home and learn how to cook, clean, sew, and do other household jobs. Once their betrotheds return and after they were wed the woman was then expected to raise the children while the man worked to support the family. Leaf had always hated the system, and was unwilling to give in to it. That's why she was taking the idea of being married to Blue with difficulty._

_Not because of Blue, but because it meant she was one step closer to being forced into the system society had forced upon the younger generations. She had no problem with marrying Blue; he was her best friend and she was certain no problems would arise between them, but she would always be jealous of the freedom he had just because of his gender._

_Girls were underrated in her society, seen as not being able to handle the difficult and dangerous jobs boys participated in. This included pokemon training._

_Pokemon were dangerous animals, regardless if they had already been captured and bound to pokeballs or not. There were countless stories of trainers being attack by unruly pokemon, whether they were wild or the trainer's pokemon. Many thought that because men could barely handle pokemon that women wouldn't be able to at all, simply subject themselves to danger if they were to try and train pokemon._

_Because of this, girls were banned from becoming pokemon trainers._

_Now this didn't sit well with Leaf, seeing as how she had always been interested in pokemon since a young age and had always dreamed of being able to embark on her own pokemon journey. But since she knew the Pokemon League (the organization comprised of the Pokemon Champion, Elite Four members, and Gym Leaders) were very strict about girls not being trainers, she had with great reluctance all but resigned herself to live the life of an average housewife._

_Still, her dream to be a trainer hadn't faded._

_. . ._

Blue let out a sigh at the sound of her despondent tone. "I know you've always wanted to be a trainer, Leaf, but it just isn't going to happen," he said. Leaf had told Blue countless times how much she wanted to be a trainer over the years, but like most other people in Kanto, Blue strongly believed that the woman should stay home and take care of the family while the man went out and worked.

"It's just not fair, though," Leaf complained, watching as the water rushed up towards them and slowed down inches away from their feet before receding back into the ocean. "The League has never allowed girls to try being trainers before, so who are they to decided if girls can make good trainers or not? For all they know we could make better trainers than guys!" she fumed.

Blue sighed. "That's not why they keep girls from becoming trainers, Leaf. The League doesn't want girls to get injured by pokemon. They can be really vicious sometimes, you know." Leaf already knew that. Blue knew too, despite not being a trainer yet. His grandfather, Professor Oak, studied pokemon and had a large ranch he kept trainers' pokemon at, which Leaf and Blue would frequently visit when they were younger. Blue had a scar on his shoulder from when an enraged Dodrio attacked him, and while that incident scared both of them terribly, it didn't weaken their resolves to become trainers.

"That doesn't give them an excuse, though," Leaf whined. "How many other girls do you think wish they could go on a pokemon journey?"

"That doesn't matter." Leaf scowled at his response. "Hey, hey," he said when he caught her frowning at him. "If it makes you happy, I'll find a little eevee or clefairy or something and send it to Gramps and have him give it to you," he disdainfully offered to soothe the girl.

"Clefairy are too girly. I want something fierce, like a charizard," Leaf refuted.

"Like hell I'd let you have something like that," Blue distastefully replied. "That thing could kill you with a Flamethrower in less than a second."

"Like a clefairy couldn't if it used Metronome!" Leaf retorted.

Blue rolled his eyes. "The chances of that happening are extremely slim, but whatever. Just…" He let out a sigh. "…be careful while I'm gone, please?" His tone changed to become more teasing, lighter. "I don't want my wife-to-be the one getting injured when _I'm_ the one traveling around with dangerous animals."

Leaf scoffed, but smiled anyways. "Okay, okay, fine. I wouldn't do anything _too_ extreme. Sewing with extremely sharp needles isn't dangerous, right? No, I thought it wasn't," she cheerfully said, joking around.

Blue chuckled and pressed a kiss to Leaf's cheek before standing up and brushing the sand off of his clothes. "I'm going to head back to town," he told her. "Gramps wants me to help him with a few things at his lab, plus I've got to get ready to leave on my journey. Don't stay out here too long, okay?"

The brunette simply nodded in response, continuing to stare out across the ocean. "I'll see you later, then," Blue said before he turned and walked away towards the path leading up to the plain the town was located on from the beach.

Leaf sat there for a long time after he had left, lost in her thoughts. Blue would be receiving his starter pokemon and leaving on his journey in less than a week; meanwhile her mother would start teaching her things that were essential to being a "perfect wife".

Leaf's eyes narrowed involuntary. Her mother was always trying to encourage her to do things that girls normally did, constantly trying to teach her how to cook despite Leaf's objections. Her mother tried to make her as girly as possible, hating her boyish streak (which came from always hanging out with Blue); Leaf blamed this on her father, who had left her mother when she was born. Apparently he left because he was angry at her mother for giving him a daughter instead of a son who could make him proud by becoming a trainer.

Leaf's hand balled into fists. "I'll prove to _everyone_ – my father, Blue, the League – that girls can be trainers that are just as good as boys," she whispered.

With this new goal to motivate her, Leaf stood up, brushing the sand off the skirt she wore before starting the trek back to Pallet Town. The sand shifted under her feet as she walked toward the slope leading from the beach to the grassy plain above; images of her standing in front of the League building sharp in her mind.

As she climbed the slope and walked through the winding hills back towards town, she recalled the advice Daisy, Blue's older sister, had given her when she heard the news about Leaf and Blue's betrothal.

Daisy, having recently gotten married a few months prior after her fiancé returned home, knew exactly what Leaf should expect after Blue left. "Expect lots and lots of lessons, mostly on cooking and sewing," Daisy had said. "You've got to be able to take care of all the household jobs once you get married and your husband is off working all day."

Leaf hadn't really paid attention to what she had said, having already heard the same thing a million times already. (Seriously, it was getting repetitive.)

Strolling over the crest of a large hill, Leaf could finally see the few buildings that made up Pallet Town in the distance. Quickening her pace, she followed the fastest route back to her house.

She hated cooking. She hated cleaning. She hated sewing. She hated everything every "perfect wife" was supposed to know how to do.

But she didn't hate pokemon.

"Mom, I'm home!" she called as she burst through the front door of the small house she and her mother lived in, already halfway up the stairs leading up to her room by the time her mom replied from the dining room.

"Welcome home, Leafy!"

Leaf entered her room and then shut the door behind her, looking around. Her room didn't consist of anything special; a bed, nightstand, dresser, and desk were really the only things that occupied it.

Leaf approached her closet, pushing the sliding door open and digging through the mounds of clothing and deep into the depths of the closet, searching for something. "Come on… Where is it?" Leaf asked herself as she threw a shirt over her shoulder, pushing a few others out of the way to look underneath them. "I know it's still in here…"

Abandoning her search along the bottom of the closet, Leaf stood up to look through the top rack of clothing where more shirts and pants and skirts hung. Pushing hangs and articles of clothing aside, Leaf finally found what she was looking for, letting out an excited cry when she did.

With flourish she pulled an outfit inside of a plastic protective bag out of her closet, looking at it victoriously before throwing it on to her bed and opening the bag. Sealed inside of it was a costume she had worn for a party or something years ago – she couldn't remember what it was for. But she had saved the costume after its usage was over, storing it in her closet. She knew it would be useful sometime again in the future, and she was right.

She opened the bag, only pulling out a few select accessories she needed from it. One was a short, messy, black wig and the other a container that held a pair of red contacts in it. Setting them aside, she whirled around and headed back to her closet and fished a few articles of clothing out of the overflowing clutter of different fabrics.

Laying the clothing out on her bed, Leaf stepped back and looked at her chosen clothes proudly: a black shirt that was obviously too big for her, a red and white jacket plus a hat of the same aforementioned colors, and a pair of blue jeans that were also too big for Leaf's delicate size. It was all boys' clothing she had stolen from Blue just for the fun of it, not that he cared if she took it or not. As he said, red "wasn't his color". (Which made sense, considering his name was _Blue._)

"Perfect," Leaf said, smirking as she surveyed the clothing and accessories before her before stripping her own clothes off and putting the new clothes on. She walked over to the mirror hanging on the back of her door, standing in front of it and looking at the reflected image of herself in the glass.

Eyeing her chest, Leaf frowned and muttered, "Okay, that's not going to work…" She stared at herself for a few more second before opening her door and running in to the bathroom before her mom saw the clothes she was wearing.

As soon as she was inside the bathroom Leaf pulled one of the cabinet doors open and looked through the boxes of band aids and hygienic products until she found a roll of bandages near the back of the cabinet. Clutching the bandages in her hand, Leaf ran back to her room and closed the door once again.

Taking her shirt and jacket off, Leaf unrolled the bandages before wrapping them tightly around her chest, flattening what was there. Slipping the shirt and jacket back on over her head, she turned towards the mirror again and beamed in satisfaction upon seeing her reflection.

Still grinning, she pulled a hair band off her wrist and managed to tie her long brown hair up on top of her head. Walking over to her bed, she took the box of contacts in one hand and the black wig in the other and put the former object on top of her head, fixing it out in the mirror and making sure none of her brown hair poked out from underneath it. After that she popped open the container with the contacts in it, easily putting them on and covering her bright green eyes with red.

Then Leaf swiped the red and white hat off of her bed, slipping it over the black wig and lowering the brim to hide her eyes. Turning towards the mirror, she took in her appearance.

Leaf couldn't even recognize herself. The person in the mirror staring back at Leaf looked nothing like her. This person had red eyes and shaggy black hair that peeked out from under the rim of a red and white hat, and clothes that hung off the frame of the person.

To put it simply, she looked like a boy.

Leaf smiled widely. With this disguise, she was sure she would be able to follow her dreams and finally become a pokemon trainer.

"My name will be…Red."

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**Oh hey so guess what Aqua's finally going to start a multi-chapter story and not give up on it after the first chapter! :D (I was actually going to start a Leafgreenshipping story instead of this one but ehh…I'll tell you guys when I post that one, though, if you're interested in it. ;)**

**But seriously, I can't tell you how excited I am to write this. I know plenty of other people (almost typed pokemon there, whoops. XD) have used this idea already, but I really don't care. This story includes Conflictingshipping though, so bonus! :3 (This world seriously needs more Conflictingshippers. DX)**

**So…yeah. Anyways, I'll try to get the next chapter out as soon as possible! :) Next chapter "Red" and Blue will be getting their starter 'mons…but I'm not sure if they should get the Pokemon Yellow starters or the original three. Tell me in your review which one you think they should get, or vote on the poll on my profile…or do both. XD**

**Stick around for a few more chapters before you decide not to read this story, because hey, even if you don't like the pairing or the story so far maybe your opinion will change over time. Regardless, thanks for reading and reviews are very much appreciated! :)**

**-AquaStarlight**


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